


Insidious Curse

by lunaemoth



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Challenge Response, Gen, Halloween Challenge, POV Darcy Lewis, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Sorcerers, Tumblr Prompt, Witch Darcy Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 20:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16436339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaemoth/pseuds/lunaemoth
Summary: For FYDL Halloween Challenge 2018, day 5: Insidious.There is something very wrong going on in the Avengers compound. Superheroes can't stop arguing. Either they are all assholes, or there is a curse. Darcy knows what she believes in, and she'll prove it.





	Insidious Curse

**Author's Note:**

> Something light-hearted written for the [FYDL Halloween Challenge 2018](http://fuckyeahdarcylewis.tumblr.com/post/178794183992/fckyeahdarcylewis-halloween-week-a-darcyland) so I can get back into writing for the MCU and about Darcy in particular since it has been a while. =)
> 
>  
> 
> NB: I'm french, english isn't my first language and this isn't betaed so you can expect some mistakes. If anything bothers you please send me a nice comment with the correction.

While not always content to stay a wallflower, Darcy was good at blending in the background wherever she went. People watching was one of her skills. She liked to practice it during her wearier days, when speaking up to prove to the world that she was more than she appeared was just too much effort, but also when people seemed to be too much of a pain to deal with.

Lately, to her greatest bafflement, it was more and more of the second case scenario. She had great hopes when she moved in the Avengers Compound though! Ok, it was mostly a lot of daydreams about how she would become Tony Stark’s assistant, Natasha Romanoff’s best friend or Steve Rogers’ new crush. Whatever. Daydreams were good for the soul.

Still, she really thought that it would be at least enjoyable, that she could appreciate the really cool amenities, and mostly she did… everything except the common space, that is.

It was cursed.

Jane scoffed at the suggestion and promptly ignored any rant and speculations Darcy threw her way, which, for someone who had told Erik that “magic's just science we don't understand yet”, is not cool but whatever. The astrophysicist was convinced that the Avengers were just assholes who weren’t team players, and… well… the facts (an important detail for science, Darcy had been told) ruled in her favor. There had been the matter of the Civil War which shouldn’t be named and which wasn’t forgotten yet.

Since they had moved in, every time they had met the Avengers in a group (which had always been in the common rooms, unless it was Tony and Bruce in the lab, sometimes Thor when he came to see them), it had just gone south. It ranged from insults, blatant or implied with passive-aggressiveness, from full-out verbal fighting (and in a few memorable occasions it came out to blows).

They had been unable to communicate peacefully. For the most renowned group of superheroes in the world, it was really worrying. And this was just getting worse and worse, like an insidious vicious circle.

Either Jane was right, and Darcy’s illusions would be shattered in a thousand of tiny pieces representing her broken heart… or this was a curse.

Darcy knew what her gut told her, and she was going to resolve this. She had a plan.

She was in her apartment, baking peanut butter cookies, when the first part of her plan was triggered.

“Lady Darcy,” Friday said (she had managed to convince it to address her as Thor did, that was way cooler and nicer than a cold and formal “Miss Lewis”), “you have requested to be informed when a sorcerer would be present.”

She hissed when she touched a hot cookie in her surprise, and then promptly asked in excitement: “Is there one? Did you tell them?”

“I have informed them of your request for a meeting. Unfortunately, Doctor Strange and Mister Wong seem to be in somewhat in a hurry…”

“They are in the common rooms and just met with the team, right?” Darcy guessed, grabbing a tupperware and piling the cookies in it.

“Yes,” Friday admitted.

“Yeah, called it,” she muttered. Everyone wanted to get out of those rooms as fast as they could. She certainly did. “Ok, tell them I can pay them with cookies, freshly baked, still warm, peanut butter and chocolate chips, satisfaction guaranteed! If they don’t like cookies, I can bake them anything they want! Just… stall them, Friday, my girl! I’m coming!” She grabbed the tupperware and left her apartment, never mind that she was casually clothed in yoga pants and a sweater with Iron Man themed fluffy slippers.

“Mister Wong showed interest in your offer of cookies and is waiting for you.”

“Cool! That’s a man of good taste,” Darcy approved as she jogged through the corridors. She had planned to share her cookies with Thor and Jane this evening, but this was for the greater good. She would just make more later. She still had kept two in her kitchen because she had the right to taste her own food, damn it, but she would bake a thousand cookies to this sorcerer if he could resolve her problem.

She stepped in the common rooms and heard the usual distant bickering coming from the living room. Two men were waiting for her in the hallway, wearing the esoteric garb she had seen from far away during a party. The closest had asian features with a round face. He looked like a Wong, and his eyes zeroed in on her box of pastries so it seemed like a safe bet.

“Hi! Thanks for meeting me! I’m Darcy Lewis,” she introduced herself quickly, offering her hand.

“Wong,” he replied, shaking her hand briefly.

“Doctor Strange,” the other added. He was taller, caucasian, and somewhat reminiscent of Stark. He also lingered a few steps away, apparently disinterested from the proceedings and rather eager to leave. Darcy chose to ignore him in favor of Wong-who-liked-cookies.

“Nice to meet you! Ok, I know you want to leave and I don’t blame you, so I’m going to make this quick. Your magic, I heard it’s spell-based, right. Like…” She waved her free hand to demonstrate what she had in mind, adding a sound effect as a bonus. Doctor Strange looked condescending. Wong raised an eyebrow. Tough crowd. “My question is, do curses exist? Like, can your curse an object, a person, or like, a whole room?”

“Objects can be cursed. Magic lingers on inanimate objects. It can also be done on living beings, but to a higher cost and for a shorter time,” Wong promptly replied, in a matter of fact way.

“Ok, cool, cool, cool,” Darcy muttered, internally thinking that science could kiss her ass and that she was totally right to be paranoid. “And, let’s say that you both walk near someone or something which has been cursed, would you be able to know it right away? to... feel it somehow?”  

“It depends on the curse,” Wong said more cautiously, frowning at the way this was going.

“Do you have a way to detect curses for sure then?”

“A basic magic detection spell would show its presence.”

“Awesome! Could you do it? Like, right now? I’ll give you all those cookies and bake you anything you want as payment, like, anything as long as it’s not too fancy!” she said excitedly.

“You think you’re cursed?” Doctor Strange asked with a mix of derision and caution, like he didn’t know if he should take the crazy woman seriously.

She shook her head. “No, not me! Oh, yeah, wait, how big is your spell’s range? Like, can you swipe a whole room?”

“It’s possible,” Wong replied.

“Great!” She grabbed his wrist and dragged him toward the living room. She put down her box of cookies in the kitchen island on the way.

The Avengers were bickering around the coffee table. She dived in the middle of them with a “sorry” and a slight nudge in Sam Wilson’s ribs, a “coming in” as she went around Steve Rogers, and a “move, buddy” to Thor.

Her strange and bold interruption got them all to shut up, and she turned toward a puzzled Wong to wave at their surroundings. “Here.”

“Here?” he repeated, baffled.  

“You think there is a curse in this room?” Doctor Strange asked from where he had followed them. This time, he seemed to take her more seriously.

“Oh, yeah. I mean, I really hope so, because it’s either that or Jane is right, and I don’t think my poor heart can take it,” she muttered to her new buddy Wong. “So please tell me it’s cursed.”

“What?” Stark asked in bewilderment. “Are you going nuts, Lewis? Is this—”

From the corner of her eyes, Darcy saw Thor getting ready to defend her, and she knew that if she let this happened, they would start another fight. So, she shouted: “SHUT UP! For five minutes, do me all a favor and just shut the hell up, ok?!”

Her outburst seemed to shock them into silence, and she guessed that it would be pretty surprising coming from someone who had always stayed silent in a corner without taking sides in their arguments every time they met until now.

Doctor Strange and Wong glanced at each other. They raised their hands in an opposite direction each, sigils made of sparkles appearing at a flick of their hands and sweeping the room into a wave of light. It disappeared right after, except for a red glow around a small statue next to the coffee table.

“Does that mean what I think it means?” Darcy asked eagerly.

“It’s cursed,” Wong confirmed.

At the same time, Doctor Strange replied with a “Not necessarily,” but after a glance at his colleague, he tilted his head and admitted: “I guess no other explanation would make sense.”

Darcy was vibrating with contained satisfaction and eagerness. “Can you tell what curse?”

Wong did another hand wave with another more complicated sigil. After a few seconds during which his eyes became glassy, he announced: “Enhancement of negative emotions. A middle-level spell, very well done.”

Darcy burst into a scream of joy, throwing her hands to the ceiling and jumping up and down until she just threw herself in Thor’s arms. “Called it! I was so totally right! Wait till Jane hear that!” She squealed in delight. “Do you know what that means?” she asked Thor.

“No,” he admitted without shame, smiling at her enthusiasm.

“It means you all aren’t complete selfish assholes!”

“That was in question?” Sam Wilson asked with an uneasy look.

Darcy scoffed. “With the way you behaved like teenagers in middle school? Yeah, you bet.” She let go of Thor and shimmied her shoulders. The stares on her were rather judgemental though, and she groaned in disgust. “Whatever, I’m so done with you grouchy guys. So now, what’s the next step, sorcerers? Are you ‘uncursing’ it or just getting rid of it?”

“Dealing with curses is a complex process,” Dr Strange replied with self-importance.

She nodded repeatedly in understanding and eagerness. “So you’re taking it with you far away from here, gotcha. Now is good. It’s ruining my good vibes, you know.”

“How are you not affected by it?” The sorcerer asked in puzzlement.

She chuckled a bit dryly. “Oh, I’m like two seconds away from bursting into tears or having a panic attack if you all continue to stare at me like that, but I’m kinda used to dealing with it, so no big deal. Still, though, I’m gonna go. I can trust the professionals to handle this, right? Thanks for the save, guys. Here are the cookies. See you later.” She pushed the tupperware in Wong’s hands, patted Thor on the shoulder when she met his concerned glance, and walked away quickly.

Urgh, stupid curse. She was feeling super anxious and miserable now, the satisfaction of having been right nearly forgotten by the memory of all their disdainful expressions. She shuddered and clapped her hands.

“Well, time to make some more cookies with catchy music I guess.”

 

*

 

“I can’t believe you were right.”

“You can call me Detective Lewis from now on.”

Jane huffed and rolled her eyes, but the upturned corner of her lips betrayed her amusement.

They were sitting on stools, side by side, their shoulders touching, while they waited for the last simulation to be over. Darcy had made them some Earl Grey tea (sent by Jane’s mom from London) for five o’clock, and they were chatting about the event of the previous day.

“Thor was impressed,” Jane admitted while blowing on her drink.

Darcy puffed up with pride. At least she had the big guy’s approval! The others didn’t matter.

She was starting to reply when a circle of gold sparks appeared next to them and out of it came the two sorcerers, Doctor Strange and Wong.

“What the fuck, guys?” Darcy shouted. She had spilled some hot tea on her jeans. “A warning would be cool!”

Jane had been more careful, but she squinted at the newcomers distrustfully.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Strange said, although he didn’t seem much contrite. “About yesterday, we need to ask… How did you know there was a curse?!” He said it in a way that implied it had been bothering him since.

“Uh… I didn’t? I told you. It was that or they were all assholes.”

“She has a good imagination,” Jane pointed out with some fond exasperation.

“You bet. Oh, I got a new fanfic idea for Mass Effect during shower this morning!” She announced cheerfully at her best friend. Jane had been the one to introduce her to the video games (one of the rare ones she had played, after an ex-boyfriend had talked to her about the sciences in it), and now she had to beta every fic Darcy wrote (and she had written a lot because there was nothing else to do in the middle of nowhere without wifi), especially to approve the science stuff.

“Is it with Thane again?” Jane sighed.

Darcy beamed. “Yeah!”

“What’s a fanfic?” Dr Strange interrupted, glancing at Wong who shrugged in reply.

“Geez,” Darcy sighed before proceedings to explain the principle of fanfiction.

“Ok, so you write,” Strange interrupted after a few long minutes of too many details about the history and organization of fan contents. “I get it. Fine, even with a good imagination, that doesn’t answer how you know it was in the common room.”

“Uh, because that’s where all the fighting happened.”

“Why didn’t you think they were cursed?”

She shrugged. “It didn’t fit.”

“Fit what?”

“I don’t know, the pattern. The way they acted otherwise…”

“So it could be that you’re imaginative and observant,” Wong said. “But when you showed me where to look at, you brought me just next to the cursed statue.”

“Yes!” Strange approved. “It’s a huge open space with kitchen, bar and dining room, but you went directly to the living room.”

“I guess.” Darcy shrugged. She hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest.

“Why?!” The two sorcerers asked at the same time, with different level of insistence.

“I don’t know! It just seems like the epicenter of whatever happened, I guess. The closer they were to the couches, the worse they were.” Darcy gestured with her hands to express how much of a mess it was.

“I hadn’t noticed,” Jane admitted, frowning and staring into space as she tried to recall the parties or meetings they had gone to.

Strange huffed in exasperation and shared a long glance with Wong before asking Darcy: “Would you like to train as a Sorcerer?”

Darcy, who had been drinking her tea during their telepathy act, blinked and lowered her cup. “How much does it pay?”

“It doesn’t,” Strange drawled.

“Then nope. Sorry, but I promised myself I would only save the world if I’m paid from now on. I mean, when you’re good at something, you shouldn’t do it for free,” she explained. Now that she was finally paid as Jane’s assistant, she wasn’t going to go back to her poor days! It’s not like she was rich either, mind you, but anything was better than nothing.

Strange looked ready to protest and rant, but Wong beat him by simply stating: “Room and full board with free wifi available in Hong Kong, London, New York, and Kathmandu. Free and instant travel anywhere in the world. Free medical treatments. Free yoga and martial arts lessons. Full access to the most complete library on occult arts on Earth. Those benefits have no expiration date whether you retire or not.”

Darcy’s eyebrows rose. She glanced at Jane who shrugged in a clear “your call” statement.

“I’m in.”

“What? Just like that?” Strange asked, bewildered.

“Dude, I’m a millennial. I heard free room, free food, free wifi, free medicine, free travel, and retirement plan.” She jumped to her feet. “I’m sold. When do I start?”

 

*

 

Darcy was adapting quite well to Kamar-Taj if she could say so herself. The Sorcerer garb was pretty cool once you got used to it. She liked the Asian architecture. The food was better than what she had to eat in London. People were nice once they got used to her humor. Also, she liked books and meditation so her studies until now hadn’t been an issue.

She was ready for practicing magic now, and that was something else entirely.

“Now, remember,” Strange was telling her, “it’s okay if you don’t manage it perfectly on the first try.”

She nodded. “Ok.” No big deal. She had never been a genius at anything, she was used to needing a little more training before getting it right.

“I didn’t at first,” Strange added, probably to reassure her. “I just managed a few sparks.”

She shrugged. “Ok.”

Strange explained to her the process of conjuring energy from another dimension and then demonstrated it.

She copied it as best as she could, and a sigil of energy appeared in front of her, perfectly similar to Strange’s. She beamed and glanced up at him. “How did I do?”

“Uh… Good… Good,” he replied with a smile a little stiff. Behind him, Wong hid a smile.

Afterward, he explained to her how to make a shield with it. It wasn’t a problem either. So he showed her how to make a portal between places.

“Now, this can be tricky. It requires a very clear view of where you want to go and just let—”

Before he had finished his explanation, Darcy had opened a portal to the Stark tower’s lab. She put her head through excitedly. “Hey, Jane! Jane! Look! I did my first portal!”

The astrophysicist looked up from her computer screen, blinking in curiosity. “Oh, well done, Darcy. Does it mean you will come to the party on friday?”

“You bet!”

“Good, good.”

“Oh, you have that look. The one which says I’m bothering you. Ok, go back to your science. See you friday!” Darcy pulled back and turned around to smile at Strange and ask him how to close the portal.

That’s when she noticed that Wong was laughing loudly and Strange had a flabbergasted expression.

Darcy raised a curious eyebrow. “What did I miss?” She patted her butt. “Do I have something on me?”

“How… Just how did you manage it so easily?!” Strange asked with a wave of his hands.

“The books said to just… go with the flow, so that’s what I did.”

“Just like that?!”

“Yep. I’m good at going with the flow.” She shrugged.

Strange raised his hands to the sky and shook his head. “Alright, fine. Let’s take a break, and then we’ll start you on martial arts this afternoon.”

Darcy did yoga since university. The morning rituals they had her do at Kamar-Taj weren’t much different. It hadn’t been a problem.

The martial arts were a big problem.

“Stop running!” Strange shouted.

“Stop trying to hit me!” she shrieked while hiding behind a pillar.

Wong, the rest of the apprentices and in fact all the sorcerers currently at Kamar-Taj had gathered around the courtyard, attracted by her cries, and most of them were having the laugh of their life.  

Darcy had held her own for five whole minutes while Strange explained to her basic defense, but as soon as he had gotten past her guard and struck her flank, she had run. Tasing her aggressor and running had always been her modus operandi, because standing her ground had always seemed incredibly stupid to her.

“You need to know how to defend yourself and attack!”

“I don’t want to! I have magic! I’m good at magic! Why can’t I just use that?” she whined.

“You can’t always count on it!”

“Fine! I have a taser too!”

“That’s… What?!”

This got Wong to laugh even harder, and Strange raised his hands to the sky again. “I guess you couldn’t be good at everything,” he sighed in defeat, not without a touch of relief.

Darcy came out from behind the pillar, thinking she had gotten away with it.

Strange pointed at one of the masters and said: “Grem, you’re responsible for her training from now on. Just… deal with her.”

“Oh, come on,” Darcy whined, throwing her head back. “Can’t I just be the librarian? I don’t need to fight to be a librarian!”

“Wong was the previous librarian, and he’s one of our best masters,” Strange replied, which got Wong to calm down and put on his usual severe expression.

Master Grem came to fetch Darcy and gently stirred her toward the middle of the courtyard. “Come, Darcy. Let’s start from the beginning. Stephen is hardly the teacher you need.”

“Excuse me?” Strange asked, offended.

“You can’t be good at everything,” Grem pointed out, throwing his words back at him.

“I like you,” Darcy said. “Please don’t hit me.”

Grem chuckled and patted her shoulder. “Why don’t you try to hit me, then?”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at: http://lunaemoth.tumblr.com/


End file.
